Former First Lady Barbara Bush's status as a style icon has always pretty much started from the neck up -- her favored double-strand of large pearls is as well -known as Vogue editor Anna Wintour's bobbed hairdo. Now let us add to Bush's personal style symbols ... socks. Yes, socks.

At the annual Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy "A Celebration of Reading" event Monday night at the Meyerson Symphony Center, Barbara first kidded her husband, President George H.W. Bush (who wasn't present), for his "latest vice" -- colorful, often wacky socks that immediately draw the viewer's eye, no matter how somber the family portrait or occasion. "What do you see? The SOCKS," she bemoaned, showing off a slide show of prime examples. She then admitted that she was succumbing to an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," attitude, coyly pulling up her classic black slacks to reveal her own festively patterned hosiery. It went nicely with her cobalt-blue jacket, pearls and, of course, that lovely cloud of white hair. At 87, Bush exudes the energy and strength of someone several decades younger.

The Bush family matriarch used her trademark humor to kick off an evening celebrating literary excellence. The event, with tickets starting at $150 and sponsorships going for as much as $80,000, included a VIP reception and light supper. Attendees spotted at the reception included former Republican presidential candidate and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm. Between the reception and the dinner, a nearly full house listened raptly as five authors read from their works: Sally Bedell Smith (Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch), Robert Zorn (Cemetery John: The Undiscovered Mastermind of the Lindbergh Kidnapping), Nicolle Wallace (It's Classified), Kathryn McGarr (The Whole Damn Deal: Robert Strauss and the Art of Politics) and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (An American Son).

Several Bush children and grandchildren participated by introducing the authors; Bush son and daughter Jeb Bush and Doro Bush Koch recently took over the chairmanship of the foundation -- which hosts similar events in Houston and Tallahassee, Fla. -- from Barbara Bush, but she remains as honorary chairman. Jeb's son George P. Bush and his wife, Amanda, were committee co-chairs for the evening. The program also included Neil Bush, another of Barbara and George H.W.'s sons, who teared up as he read from some of his father's letters (to be published in March in an expanded re-issue of All The Best, George H.W.'s collection of letters and other writings), and the 20-member Meistersingers choral group from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, singing gorgeous a cappella versions of "America the Beautiful" and Marta Keen's "Homeward Bound."

The various Bushes and the choir received enthusiastic applause, but the evening's only standing ovation was reserved for Mary Mendez, a client at Plano Family Literacy who spoke movingly about the struggles with the English language that she endured when, at age 12, she moved with her family from Mexico to the U.S. Married at 16, she dropped out of school to work and raise two children (now ages 3 and 9). With help from Plano Family Literacy, she said, she hopes to finally get her GED this year, then go to community college and eventually become a nurse.

Mendez served as a living, breathing example of what Doro Koch recalled her mother, Barbara, telling her as a child. "I wanted to be an athlete, a teacher, a famous singer," Doro said of her shifting childhood goals. "But more than anything, I wanted to be just like my mother, who told me that reading was the most important means to everything I ever wanted to be."

As of June 2012, the Barbara Bush Foundation (founded in 1989) had awarded nearly $43 million to almost 1,000 family-literacy programs in all 50 states. In Texas during the 2012-13 school year, 11 programs will receive $585,000. The Dallas Children's Theater Center and the Barbara Bush Foundation partnered this year to invite students from J. Erik Jonsson Community School to write essays after reading Pinkalicious, about a little girl who learns the dangers of "too much," and seeing the musical adaptation at DCT. The winners got their first "publication," with their essays included in the goody bags distributed to the audience. Here's hoping we'll be reading more from these budding young authors: third-grader Leo Ontiveros ("Listen to Your Mom"), fourth-grader Thomas Orta ("My Goofy Hair Do") and fifth-grader Priscilla Cabrera "The Time I Fainted."

Despite the bevy of Bushes present, only once did the public discourse stray into politics. Novelist Nicolle Wallace, who served as communications director for George W. Bush's White House and re-election campaign, cheered the "bright young stars" of the Bush family, and noted, "And after last Tuesday, I'm counting on all of you," to huge applause.